Remedy
by Saphrea
Summary: Frisk becomes deathly sick and has a talk with Sans about the cost of freedom and the worth of a life. Now they must find a cure before the disease contaminates Frisk's entire timeline.
1. Fever

Remedy

Chapter 1: Fever

…

Being sick was terrible.

I'd seen it coming, too. Last night I'd felt an itch in my throat and a hint of queasiness in my stomach. I drank an entire glass of orange juice, took a dose of anti-nausea medicine, and even ate a few pieces of monster candy in the vain hope that it would help. It didn't.

I woke in the early hours to terrible aches and pains throughout my whole body. I felt cold and I bundled myself tightly in my blankets. It was summer now, but not even the heat could banish my chill or the constant shivering.

Then the nausea returned.

I managed to crawl out of bed and get to the bathroom in time. The cool tile felt nice against my legs as I threw up. I felt better afterwards and the air was refreshing against my feverish skin. But soon my previous chill returned, and I leaned against the door frame shaking uncontrollably.

I was just debating the merits of crawling back to bed or lying right here on the bathroom floor when Toriel found me. Of course Mom would have heard me and come to investigate. I felt a surge of love as she knelt down next to me and felt my forehead. I leaned into her touch and the gentle coolness of the pads on her paws.

Before the Underground, before the resets, before my new life, sickness was a weakness. No one had ever cared for me while I was ill. I was always left to myself in an empty, dark room until I was well enough to return to school.

"My dear child…come, I will take you to bed."

Toriel carried me easily, as though I weighed nothing. She brought me water and monster medicine to dull the pain. Then she bundled me in thick winter blankets and placed a cool towel on my forehead.

I fell into a fitful sleep.

When I woke, Toriel was sitting at my bedside while grading a stack of essays.

"Oh, you're awake, my child," she said, smiling.

"Not…at school?" I asked, my voice rough.

I had a sudden coughing fit, and Toriel handed me a glass of water.

"No, I'm staying here to watch over you today," she said. "Just rest. I'm here if you need anything."

I drank the water slowly and said I loved her before falling into another doze. I woke several more times, always to see Toriel sitting vigilantly beside me. She took me to the bathroom several times and sat while I tried to choke down some food. It did not stay, and she did not insist on more. Just water to keep me hydrated.

I felt bad for being such a bother, but Toriel looked at me with such kindness and love that I couldn't object to her mothering. It felt nice to be taken care of.

Then it was evening, and I could not sleep. At some point, my breathing became harder, as if my lungs were filling up. Each breath was shallow and difficult. I felt as if I was suffocating. I thought about telling Toriel, but what would she do? There were no human doctors in the monster city, and it wasn't worth going to the human city at the base of the mountain.

No, I'd rather be sick for the rest of my life than go down there.

Around supper, Papyrus arrived with a book about fluffy bunnies and demanded that he be allowed to read it to me. Toriel gave up her chair to Papyrus and said that she would be nearby if I needed her. I smiled and nodded, not trusting my voice. Papyrus was always so happy and Toriel had worked so hard to make me comfortable. I didn't want to worry them, not for something trivial like me being sick.

I listened as Papyrus talked. He read me the story twice before he fell asleep in his chair. Undyne arrived shortly after to demand that I get better soon, and then she carried Papyrus off without waking him. Alphys came too, and Monster Kid, and Mettaton. I had a whole string of visitors to occupy me until well after full dark. By then, everyone was settling in to sleep, and I could only stare out my window at the distant stars.

It was hard to catch my breath at all now. Every lift and fall of my chest felt painful, and attempting to take a deep breath resulted in several minutes of coughing. This was by far the worst illness I'd ever had. Monsters did not get sick, their magic and food able to keep them in constant, perfect health. No, only humans got sick, and it was from a human that I'd caught this particularly nasty bug.

Three days ago, a diplomatic mission had requested entry into the monster city to meet with the king and queen of monsters. Asgore had, of course, accepted the offer. And, as the ambassador, I had attended as well. One of the human ambassadors was very sick. He coughed. He wheezed. He apologized endlessly while shaking my hand with his own.

I thought I'd been careful enough about washing my hands afterwards, but apparently not. Now I was paying the price for it. I sighed heavily and leaned into my pillows. The wet towel on my forehead was now uncomfortably warm and the water glass on my bedside table was empty.

Should I try to make it to the kitchen by myself? Should I call Toriel to help me? Should I wait until morning?

My vision had grown blurry and the room spun slightly whenever I moved my head. I didn't think standing up would be a good idea, and I didn't want to bother Toriel after she'd spent all day watching over me. She needed sleep too.

So I lay there in the dark room and listened to the crickets outside.

I felt Sans arrive before I saw him. His arrival was heralded by a small pulse of magic and displaced air. I blinked slowly at the formerly empty chair. His familiar grin was firmly in place, and I matched it with a weak one of my own. I'd been wondering when he would drop by. I'd expected him to arrive with Papyrus, but as the hours ticked on, I began to think he wasn't coming.

"Hi…" I wheezed. I coughed, the breath for that one word was apparently too much for my lungs to handle now. Sans handed me a glass of water. I reached for it, but my fingers slipped from the surface several times. Eventually, Sans heaved a sigh and pressed the glass to my lips. I drank the water slowly, with a fair bit of it dripping down my chin and neck. "…Thanks…"

"no problem, kid," said Sans, sitting back. "you're not looking so hot. in fact, I'd say you're chilled to the bone." The joke would normally have gotten a chuckle at least, but I'd been shaking violently all day, so I just waited. "okay, maybe not the best time."

I shook my head, and then stopped when the room pitched sideways. It was a good thing I hadn't eaten all day, because otherwise it would have wound up all over Sans.

"…Hurts," I said. "…Dizzy…"

"heh, better stay still then," said Sans. "I heard that Pap came by to read you a story. I'd tell you a story about a germ, but it's not something I should **spread around.** "

He winked.

"…Heh…" I managed.

"okay, okay," said Sans. "there's something I need to talk about anyway. Tori was really worried about you. we don't know much about human diseases, so she sent me to find out a few things. I thought I should drop by here first before I give her my report."

Sans didn't continue right away. He was looking out the window at the stars. That wasn't a good sign. He usually only paused like that when it was something serious. But maybe it was different this time. Maybe he was lining up for another pun….

"hey, kid, when was your last save point?"

Or maybe not.

I shook my head and stopped when I felt another wave of nausea.

"…no save points," I coughed. "…when…when I die outside the…the Underground…I have to…reset. No…save points. W…why?"

I already knew the answer, but it was something I had to hear.

"the diplomat who made you sick, he died yesterday," said Sans. "you'll probably only last until tomorrow."

The words would have sounded callous to any listener, and I was suddenly very glad that he'd chosen to visit in the middle of the night. Sans knew all about saves and loads and resets, so when we talked about death, it wasn't the nasty, irreversible thing that most people had to endure. It was more like a constant, trivial annoyance that we both thought was behind us.

And that was part of the problem.

"...Oh," I muttered.

"so, a full reset, huh?" Sans asked dully. His eyes were blank, and his grin was fixed. It was normally his scary look, but now it felt more resigned. He knew that I couldn't help being sick and that I didn't have complete control of the timeline. He wasn't angry with me. And yet, in a way, I really was the one to blame.

"…Maybe not," I said hesitantly. I'd thought this through a bit, but I hadn't expected this discussion to be so soon. I didn't want to talk about it, but if what he said was true, then I had precious little time left. I plowed on hurriedly, half-afraid that I would lose my nerve if I stopped to think about it too much. "If…If you took away…my Determination…there would…be no reset…."

Sans's expression went from resigned to shocked to angry so quickly I almost didn't catch it.

"that's not funny, kid," he said. "you can't offer me something like that."

I blinked slowly at him. I knew it was unfair to offer. It was cruel to make him choose between the surface and a friend.

In the Underground, Sans had given up. He'd lost all will to live, and he functioned only on a scripted routine and a faint possibility of escaping the time loops. I'd been a little surprised by how full of life he was now. The surface had given him optimism for a life that had meaning. It was like watching someone see the world for the first time.

He had hope.

But a reset would erase everything he'd done. It would put him back in his prison. And even reaching the surface would be meaningless. Everything he accomplished in life would be erased again and again as I continued to die. This time by sickness. Perhaps later in an accident. Perhaps even later by old age. Again and again, an endless cycle of resets where nothing changed and nothing mattered.

Or he could let me die.

And he could be free.

"Humans…don't live forever…Sans," I said. Talking was a little easier with practice. "It's okay. I…I'm offering it to you."

Sans turned away, his face half in shadow.

"Are you prepared to die?" he asked, and his voice lost all its casual laziness. "Are you really ready to go?"

I wanted to say yes. But the words were caught in my throat. The truth was that…no I wasn't ready. I did not want to die. I loved living with Toriel and Asgore. I loved playing with Monster Kid and solving all of Papyrus's many puzzles. I loved watching anime with Alphys and I loved training with Undyne. I loved eating hotdogs and napping on grassy hillsides with Sans.

There was so much in this world I wasn't prepared to surrender. There was so much to live for, to work toward, to go to. There was so much to see and do and feel. No, I wasn't ready to die. I was ready to live.

But this wasn't just my life.

"For you…I would die one…last…time," I said. I could have reset the world without the others noticing or caring. But Sans was different. He could not live without hope. If I reset, I would see the light leave his eyes as he stared at an endless, meaningless loop. He would not be able to escape, not even in death.

It was an unbearable nightmare, and I would be to blame.

Eventually, he would hate me.

I pulled my soul from my chest. It hung in the air between us, red and bright and filled with Determination. It was my strength, and it was my weakness. I could not cast it aside, but if it was taken from me…I would not stop it.

I couldn't see Sans's eyes, but I felt his gaze on my soul, and there was so much that was left unsaid. He needed to hear the words, I realized. He needed me to say it.

I took a deep breath and suppressed the cough. I should be strong. I was Determined to say what I needed to say.

"It's okay…to let me go," I said. I had to convince him. I had to let him know that my life wasn't worth living in a nightmare. "I…I am…read—"

"stop, kid," said Sans. I coughed and he waited. "it would be easier if I hated you, or if I didn't care about you at all. but I do. you're a good kid, and everyone loves you. Tori loves you. Pap loves you. I…" he stopped. "I can't let you die forever."

Sans flicked his hand, turning my soul blue and shoving it forcefully back into my chest. I coughed and spluttered in shock. Sans stood slowly.

"Sans…" I said.

"there are some things I've gotta take care of, you know?" he said, reaching out to touch my forehead with his cool fingers. I leaned into his touch just as I had with Toriel. His hand lingered there. "try to stick around for a little while. but, kid, when the time comes, you'd better come back."

"You'll be…sad," I objected, but I closed my eyes wearily. I felt so tired. "You can't…give up the surface…freedom…for me."

"I already did, kid," said Sans. I expected him to sound unhappy, but he just sounded relieved, as if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders. "I already did. get some rest. I'll see you again the next time around."

And then he was gone.

I stared at the dark room for a long minute before closing my eyes and falling into another doze. I felt him return some time later, but I did not open my eyes. He sat it the chair by my side, as silent as a shadow.

At some point, I must have drifted off to sleep.

And when I awoke, golden sunlight was streaming down from above.

…

To be continued...


	2. Sickness

Remedy

Chapter 2: Sickness

...

I took an experimental breath and was relieved at how easily it came.

Well, now I was back in the Underground. Time to save the world…again. I met Flowey and Toriel and Sans, who was dutifully following the script. I played along, keenly aware of the hidden cameras and the fact that Alphys was recording everything. She would be going over every word, gesture, and expression in detail before I met her, so it was important to play my part perfectly.

It was kind of fun.

At one point, when we reached a blind-spot in the cameras, I gave Sans a covert wink, and he rolled his eyes. He seemed…content. Not happy, but that was to be expected. Sans was usually quite hard to read. He kept his despair hidden, mostly for Papyrus's sake. But I'd become fairly good at reading his moods, and he hadn't sunk into melancholy as I feared he might.

He still had hope.

And I was Determined to keep it that way.

I rushed through the Underground as quickly as possible and I broke the barrier.

Standing on the cliff, watching the sunset, I looked to Sans, who smiled back at me. My death was a mistake. We'd lost time, but we could get it back. This time would be different. This time would be perfect.

When Asgore offered me the position of Ambassador, I hesitated before declining. He looked so sad at my refusal, but I hugged him tightly and said that I was too young. The humans would not respect me or listen to me. Maybe when I was older, it would be different. I only wanted what was best for them.

Asgore accepted this gracefully, and Papyrus was more than happy to take my place. Sans disappeared somewhere, and I agreed to move in with Toriel. She enrolled me in school, and opened the doors to both humans and monsters so I wouldn't feel alone.

Life was good.

I had a bright future stretching out before me.

Eight months later, I fell sick….

I awoke with the golden sunlight streaming down and I spent a good long minute just marveling at my ability to breathe. It had been pretty terrible near the end, as if I was lingering constantly on the edge of suffocation. By the time Sans came to visit me, I could hardly speak at all, but he didn't listen to my halting offers this time either. Instead he pushed my soul back into my body, albeit more gently this time, and said that he would see me again the next time around.

I raced through the ruins this time. Sans met me on the other side. He was…troubled. I could hear it in the lilt of his lazy voice and the rote way he said his jokes. But he still smiled at me, and I continued on. We made it to the surface, and I agreed to become the Ambassador. During the last loop, one of the children at school had become ill, and I had caught the same bug. Also, school was actually harder to skip than officially sanctioned meetings. Who knew? So the position of Ambassador was safer. I'd just have to avoid the sick diplomat this time around. Easy. No problem. No problem at all.

I kept my eye on Sans. He'd fallen back into his lazier ways, and that worried me somewhat. Even at his liveliest, he'd never been particularly pro-active about doing things, but these days it could be difficult to get him out of bed. And he was always sleeping on the job.

"Sans, it will be alright this time," I said one day. We were lying on a grassy hill and cloud watching. It was the height of summer, and the sweltering heat made me sleepy. Sans was already dozing, but his eyes cracked open at my words.

"yeah, kid," he said.

I don't think he believed me.

Five months later, I fell sick….

I told Toriel that I had places to be.

It was a lie, and I couldn't meet her tearful gaze when she hugged me. She'd lost so many children, and it hurt to lose me too. I choked back a sob as I left, but it was for the best. Maybe there was something about the monster city that was making me ill. Maybe the lack of diseases was actually weakening my immune system. Maybe I just needed to be around other humans, as much as I didn't want to. I'd make my way in the world…somehow.

Sans stopped me before I could disappear into the night.

"kid, take care of yourself, alright?" he said. He sounded uncertain, as though he were debating whether or not to stop me.

I smiled and hoped it would be enough to convince him that I knew what I was doing.

Or maybe I was trying to convince myself.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I said.

I left him standing there.

Two months later, I fell sick….

I wept tears of joy when I woke to the golden sunlight of the Underground. I would never, ever leave Toriel again. Living on the streets was horrific. I was always hungry, cold, and scared. I begged for food on the streets and scavenged supplies from dumpsters. People looked down their noses at me when they weren't kicking me out of the way. They treated me like I was dirt, like I was nothing.

I cried into my makeshift pillow at night, wishing for my warm bed, my friends, and my family. Falling sick was almost a relief. With no one here to care for me, I didn't even last very long. My last memory before death was of a fever dream where Sans held me curled up in his lap and apologized for not coming to get me sooner. I tried to tell him that it wasn't his fault, but I couldn't catch my breath. He looked so sad.

When I met Toriel after waking, I threw myself into her arms and sobbed for several long minutes. She did not understand my distress or my unusually trusting nature, but she knew a suffering child when she saw one, and she embraced me with warm arms. She spoke soothingly until I was ready to go on, and she didn't seem surprised at all when I asked to call her Mom.

I lingered in the ruins this time, but only for a few days. I wasn't in the best state of mind, but I had obligations to uphold. The first and foremost was saving all of the monsters in the Underground. Sans was more resigned this time with an undercurrent of worry. It took until reaching Snowdin before I realized he was worried about me.

I wanted to reassure him. But there were precious few places where we could talk, so I resolved to speak with him when we reached the surface.

That proved more difficult than usual.

I'm not sure if it was the lingering effects of prolonged homelessness or if I was subconsciously unwilling to leave the Underground, but I kept dying. I kept dying a lot.

It became so bad that during my fight with Undyne, Sans actually left his hot dog stand and distracted Undyne deliberately rather than waiting for her to scold him for sleeping on the job. I made my escape and gave her the water when she collapsed. I died a dozen times while fighting Muffet because I'd forgotten to buy a spider donut in the ruins, and I wasn't used to her attacks. And I died fighting Mettaton because the bright lights gave me flashbacks to a lightning storm I'd endured while hiding under a piece of soaked cardboard. It was one of my lowest moments.

By the time I reached the Judgement Hall, I was a nervous wreck. When Sans stepped out to meet me, I collapsed into his arms and cried, blubbering incoherently about storms and death and soul-crushing loneliness. He sighed and pulled me through one of his shortcuts to his room. He sat me down on his mattress and held me while I pulled myself together. It took a long time. Thankfully, Sans was patient.

I stayed in his room that night. I was in no shape to fight Asgore or Flowey. The next day, Sans said that I wasn't ready to leave. I agreed. So I stayed another night. And another.

Sans and Papyrus were good roommates. Sans told me jokes whenever I jumped at sudden noises, and Papyrus made me endless plates of spaghetti. We played junior jumble and went on friend-dates.

I thought about asking Sans if I could stay here forever, but I sometimes caught him looking off into the distance with sad eyes, and I knew he wanted to return to the surface. It wasn't just him, either. I could see it in the faces of the monsters in Snowdin, and hear it in their conversations. The surface was a nearly mythical place where all of their hopes and dreams would come true. When Papyrus took me on a walk through Waterfall, I listened to the echo flowers. Their desperate wishes filled me with Determination. So, after two weeks of living with the brothers, I asked Sans to take me back to the castle.

He gave me a long look before leading the way.

I broke the barrier.

Standing on the cliff, I felt a wave of dread. I agreed to become the Ambassador. I agreed to live with Toriel. I told Sans that it would be different this time.

Somehow, it would be different.

Two days later, I fell sick….

"It's not natural," I insisted. We were sitting in his workshop with the strange, broken device. As far as Alphys knew, I was trapped in the garage. I guessed that I had a few hours before anyone noticed I was missing. "It can't be. I didn't even meet a single human the last time around. And I never got sick that early before!"

Sans was tinkering on the device.

"I have a theory," he said. "my data suggests that there might be a…compounding effect across loops."

"Compounding?" I asked. "Do you mean like how sometimes people know things across loops? Like how Mom remembers whether I preferred cinnamon or butterscotch even if I load a save?"

"yep," said Sans. "but it's only bits and pieces. few people keep all information."

"I do," I said, thinking. "You do, too. So, if there is…compounding, then it would be worse for me. Because I got sick in one timeline, now I'm getting sick in all of them?"

"hmm, maybe," said Sans. "I'd be willing to bet that the illnesses you contracted during the other loops were not lethal. they might have been things that your body would normally have fought off, but because of the compounding, you ultimately died."

I hung my head.

That was the worst case scenario. I couldn't exactly undo loops. Resets obviously wouldn't help either.

"It's worse every loop," I said. "It hurts more. I get sick sooner. In a few loops, I'll probably drop dead the moment I step across the barrier."

I waited for Sans to lighten the mood by cracking a joke.

"two more loops," he confirmed.

We sat in silence while he worked. There was one way around my inevitable death, but I was reluctant to say it.

I only died on the surface.

If I stayed in the Underground, if I refused to break the barrier, I could live.

I could live with the constant reminder of my broken potential. I could watch Sans slowly lose what remained of his hope. He had little enough of it left as it was. How long would it be before he gave up again? A year? Two years? Ten?

I didn't want to watch the slow decay of his dreams for a future.

"Two loops," I said. "So, that means that we'll have a bit of time after this one, right? I'll refuse to be the Ambassador. I'll tell Mom that I have places to be. We'll meet by the lake at the base of the hill, and you'll take my Determination. I won't last very long, but I—"

Sans slammed his hand down on the table, making me jump. His eye was blazing bright blue, and I'd never seen him look so…furious.

"Stop," he said, and his voice was as deadly serious as the first time we'd had this conversation. "Stop trying to throw your life away. Don't you know how much you mean to us? Don't you care how much everyone would hurt to see you die? You don't remember your first death. You were in a coma for three days. T. o. r. i. n. e. v. e. r. s. t. o. p. p. e. d. c. r. y. i. n. g."

I shivered at his words, and then he turned his back to me. His movements were abrupt, as if he was holding himself back from hitting something, probably me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "But I'm going to die, Sans. That's the truth of it. I'm going to die, and I want the people I care about to have the lives they always dreamed of."

Sans stopped working.

"you don't see yourself in their lives?" he asked. Thankfully, his scary tone was gone. But he sounded sad. "you don't see yourself with Tori or Pap or…me?"

I looked away.

"I want to live," I said. It felt like a confession, and a selfish one at that.

Sans clapped his hand on my shoulder, making me jump.

"well, we'll see what we can do then, alright?" he said, grinning. I could see the strain in his features, and I touched his hand. He squeezed my shoulder before going back to the machine. "I've been working on this for…a while. I've been able to transfer the work across loops, but now I'm ready to test it out."

I moved to stand beside him.

"What does it do?" I asked.

"maybe nothing, maybe something," he said. "let's test it out and see what we get."

He threw the master switch, and the whole machine lit up like a Christmas tree. I watched the screens go live, producing data. Sans was tense, and I held his hand. He didn't take his eyes off of the readout and adjusted knobs to keep the machine steady.

It began so shake, and I wondered if it was about to blow up. But my fears were put to rest. After a minute of shuddering, the machine ground to a halt, and the door on one side slid open. There was darkness inside, and the readouts were steady.

Sans stepped to the door and peered at the blackness within.

"What is that?" I asked, awed.

"maybe…a way to solve our problems," said Sans. "alright, kid, what we're about to do is dangerous. the last person to try was scattered across space and time. I won't blame you if you want to stay behind, but I'm not sure if I can do this without you."

He held out his hand.

'Scattered across space and time' sounded unpleasantly permanent. But I'd been prepared to die for the sake of my friends. I could do it for a chance at life.

I took his hand.

And we stepped into the darkness together.

…

To be continued…


	3. Lab Work

Remedy

Chapter 3: Lab Work

…

I clung to Sans's sleeve. I felt a bolt of fear as my feet met empty space, and I prepared to fall. But I remained where I was. Sans hung in the blackness nonchalantly, as if he'd done this a thousand times before. I looked at him questioningly, not daring to loosen my grip, but allowing my breathing to slow to something approaching normal.

"don't worry, kid," he said. "we can a-void any nasty falls here because there's no gravity to pull us down. well, technically, there's not exactly a 'down' either."

"Where are we?" I asked. Then we were moving. I wasn't sure how I knew, but I could tell we were travelling somewhere. Somehow.

"the void," said Sans. "the space beyond time, the gap between timelines, and the edge of reality. Anything is possible here, but the safety rating is abyss-mal."

 _Scattered across space and time_. Right.

My grip tightened on his sleeve. Sans must have felt it, because he lifted me up and let me put my arms around his shoulders for better support. I couldn't help the shiver of fear as I looked out and saw nothing, felt nothing. It really was a void, as if all of reality had stopped existing, and all that was left was the two of us.

"easy, kid," he said, patting my hand. "I've gotcha."

Sans was right. He was here, and he obviously (probably) knew what he was doing. I trusted him to guide us to…

"Where are we going?" I asked. "What could possibly be in here that would help us make me well again?"

Because there was decidedly nothing in the blackness, and I had a hard time imagining that a magical cure to diseases would just rear up out of nowhere and smack us in the face.

"you'll see," said Sans. "we're almost there. look."

He pointed below us, and I peered around his fluffy collar. There was something grayish and rapidly approaching. I tensed as I imagined hitting it, but Sans took my hand again and squeezed it reassuringly. The gray object turned out to be a box which grew rapidly in size the closer we came to it. It was flat and featureless, with a dull gray exterior and no distinguishing marks. No, it couldn't be a box. It was the size of a room…a house…a large tower.

When we were finally close enough to touch it, I could see that it was made of stone-like material, and the walls were pockmarked and rough. We glided along the edge until Sans found a discrete opening in the side. When we slipped through the door, gravity suddenly returned, and I yelped as I slipped and fell to the floor.

Sans caught me before I could completely face-plant, and I was able to get my feet under me. He, of course, hadn't even stumbled. I huffed.

"A little warning next time?" I said peevishly.

"aw, but I like seeing you falling for me," said Sans, winking. I blinked, and suddenly recalled all of my childish flirting throughout the loops. I shook my head and snorted. This was hardly the time for flirtatious pay-back, but it did help lighten the mood.

"Lead the way, Sans," I said. "After all, Mom always told me to follow my dreams."

Sans chuckled and we continued throwing bad pickup lines at each other all the way down the hall. I could see why he was doing it, too. The hall was quiet and empty. It would have had a distinctly terrifying atmosphere if the only sounds were our footsteps echoing through dead space. But it was hard to feel afraid when Sans was grinning in genuine amusement and throwing out every pun he could think of. In a place that was clearly dangerous, I needed reassurance. And he knew that.

Eventually we came to a fork in the hall and Sans had to stop a moment to consider our options.

"Do you know where you're going?" I asked. He was obviously familiar with this place, but there was a worried uncertainty in the furrowing of his brow.

"kinda?" he said. "my memory is a bit fuzzy. that's one of the effects of getting scattered across space and time. people forget things about you."

I shuddered.

"do you have a map?" Sans asked, and when I looked at him questioningly, he grinned. "I guess I just got lost in your eyes for a minute." I giggled. "it's this way, kid."

He took the left path, and I followed closely after. There were a few more stops as the path continued to fork, but Sans seemed to grow more confident the further we traveled. Then we reached the end of a hall, and there was a door.

"stay behind me," he said.

I nodded and stepped back. He waited until I was completely hidden behind his bulky jacket before opening the door with magic. I peeked through the gap of his arm when he tensed, but then he let out a sigh.

"coast is clear," he said, entering the room. "welcome to the lab."

The lab was large and filled with various tools and complex machinery. There were bright, glowing power-sources scattered near the walls, and screens displaying charts and long strings of gibberish text. Sans was already poking around, examining the equipment and powering certain devices on.

"make like a car and park yourself in a comfy spot," said Sans. "this might take a while. there's a lot of data to go through before I find what I need."

I wanted to do a bit of poking around myself. There were plenty of things to see in here, but I didn't want to risk damaging any of the instruments. So I found a thickly padded chair near the largest monitor and sat down.

"What is this place doing here in the void?" I asked.

"there was a royal scientist who was working on…things," said Sans. "he wanted a way to get us out of the Underground. one of his experiments was with time, dimensions, and Determination. the experiments didn't work out too well. his entire lab, and all of the staff present that day, were ripped into the void, and everyone forgot they existed."

I could hear sadness in his voice, a deeper sadness than I expected.

"You didn't forget," I pointed out. "At least, you didn't forget entirely."

"nope, not entirely. I was in the vault at the time, so I was kinda protected."

I watched him tinker expertly with the machine, and I was hit by a sudden realization.

He was one of the scientists working with the royal scientist. That explained why he knew how to enter the void, and where to go in the lab, and how to use the equipment here. That's why he knew it was here at all. Then I thought about how it must have felt to wake up one day and realize that all of the people you worked with were gone…vanished into nothing. How terrible it must be to see nothing of them or their work. No one else could even remember their names.

I'd thought the resets and loops were the cause of his despair and hopelessness. Somehow, this was so much worse.

"I'm sorry," I said. "Are…are they still here?"

Sans hummed.

"bits and pieces, maybe," he said. "nothing I want to meet, that's for sure."

I glanced nervously into the shadowy places of the room, but thankfully, nothing stepped out to eat us. Sans continued to work, gathering stacks of readouts and setting them on a worktable. I wasn't sure how much time passed, but I didn't grow tired or hungry.

"What are you looking for?" I asked at length.

Sans gestured me over and pointed at the raw data on the paper.

"every monster, and human, in the Underground has a timeline," said Sans. "we travel along our timeline as time moves forward. our timelines interact with other people's timelines, meeting and branching off as we go about our daily lives. your timeline though, now that thing is a mess." He pointed to the indecipherable jumble of strange characters. "it starts, stops, doubles back, rewrites, and backflips through the loops. but somewhere in this jumble is the code for sickness."

"Oh!" I said excitedly. "If you can find the code for sickness, you think you can erase it?"

Sans scratched his chin, looking thoughtful.

"erase it, alter it, isolate it," he said. "something. it'll be tied to your health line, so I won't know until I find it. but I should be able to make it work."

"Can I help?" I asked. He'd said that he couldn't do this without me, and it was for my sake that we were here at all. But Sans only held up the papers.

"can you read this?" he asked. It looked like a series of pictograms. I wasn't even sure it translated into words, so I shook my head no. "guess you can keep a lookout for me, but don't leave this room."

Keep a lookout. I could do that. I thought about commenting on the irony of having Sans, the monster employed as a sentry, asking the human he was supposed to be keeping a lookout for, me, to be a lookout for monsters. But Sans was already deeply engrossed in the data, so I decided to take a thorough look around the room to make sure no unexpected guests had slipped inside. None had.

Or so I thought.

The room had only a single entrance, the door we'd come from. I decided to keep an eye out there, but as I leaned against the door frame, I felt the hairs on my neck prickle. I looked back sharply, and my heart leaped into my throat.

There was a monster there.

It was a gray humanoid thing with perfectly circular eyes and markings on its bare chest.

"…Sans…" I said, because the monster was between us, and I didn't want to trigger an attack. I knew all of the monster attacks intimately from my many battles through the Underground. I was reasonably confident that I could handle anything this small monster could throw out. But Sans had warned me of how dangerous this place was. Getting into a fight with an opponent of unknown abilities was stupid if I could avoid it.

But as the seconds ticked on, Sans did not look up from his notes.

"Sans!" I shouted.

Nothing.

 _He can't hear you. No. Can't. Not at all. Human. HUMAN._

The voice whispered in my ear, and my eyes darted back to the monster. It sounded like an echo, or like five or six people speaking over each other.

 _Can't. Can't. Hear. HEAR. Away, away. Gone. Void. Sans. Sans. Sans. Human. HUMAN. Sans._

Okay, if Sans couldn't hear me, I'd just have to go to him. And the monster, while very creepy, hadn't actually attacked me yet. This was almost surprising considering my other encounters. Usually it was attack first and ask questions later. I sidestepped the monster carefully…and it vanished.

"Sans!" I shouted.

Sans started, sending his pen flying. He was at my side a moment later, looking around sharply.

"what is it?" he asked when no threats became immediately apparent. I told him about the monster. "we might be running out of time. look, the small ones won't attack you, but you should stay next to me from now on. they are contaminated by the void, and a single touch could cause pieces of you to be erased. or you could just be absorbed entirely."

He took my hand and guided me back to the workbench. I curled up on the chair and kept my eyes on the door. Obviously, they didn't need the door to enter or leave the room, but it felt better than constantly turning my head in circles.

Sans worked feverishly, going so far as to teleport around the room when he needed something rather than taking the time to walk.

"got it!" he shouted at last. He pointed to a screen where a particular segment of gibberish was highlighted in red. "now I just need to perform an extraction. on the table, kid."

He patted a metal table with a sinister looking device poised over it. I climbed up and laid down while he worked with the equipment.

"Sans…will this work?" I asked, and I winced at the tremble in my voice. I sounded like a frightened child. Well, I guess I was a frightened child, but I didn't want Sans to see that.

He paused in his calibrations and brushed the hair from my eyes.

"you'll be fine," he said. "it won't take long. then we'll make like a tree and leaf."

He returned to the machine, and a light appeared at the pointed tip just above my chest. I brought my soul out at his request, and the light lined up with my red heart.

"ready, kid?" he asked.

"Ready," I said, trying very hard to inject some confidence into the word. It must have worked, because a beam of light shot from the device straight into my soul. I flinched, but it didn't hurt. It felt pleasantly warm, actually. From my soul burst countless threads of light, branching off and vanishing into the air around me. Sans pressed several buttons on the instrument, and one of the threads was singled out. The light changed, and a segment began to glow red.

"Is that it?" I asked. "Is that the sickness?"

"yep," said Sans. "more accurately, this thread is your long term, overall health. the red is the cause of death. this needs to be done carefully, so try not to move."

With my overall health on the line, I laid as still as humanly possible. I didn't want to think about accidentally triggering something terrible while trying to remove the illnesses.

Sans directed several delicate prongs on the device to circle the red section, marking off precisely where it began and ended. Then came the incision, slicing straight through the thread on both ends and pulling it out. The whole process took about five minutes, where I hardly dared to blink, but when the red section was pulled off and set into a field of blue magic, I gave a sigh of relief.

"you're almost in the clear, kid," said Sans. "just keep holding still for a few more minutes while I splice the rest of your health line together."

Sans's smile was relieved, and I knew it was going well. But before he could move, there was a series of strange sounds at the door. Sans wheeled around, placing himself between me and the…skeleton? It looked a bit like a skeleton, but it was oddly melted or malformed. It stood in the doorway with its eyes drooping closed. The humanoid monster stood by its side, pointing to me.

 _Human. HUMAN. Sans. SANS. sans. Intruder. Away. GO AWAY. Not supposed to be here._

"this is not good," said Sans.

I had to agree.

…

 **Note** : Thank you for the reviews! They fuel my passion for writing. Also, I really enjoyed writing flirty Sans and Frisk. This wasn't supposed to be a romance, but I could get behind the idea of them throwing pickup lines at each other until they fall in love...

To be continued...


	4. Fight

Remedy

Chapter 4: Fight

…

The skeleton at the door opened its shapeless mouth, and from it emerged a series of strange sounds, like beeps and warbles. I saw Sans stiffen from the corner of my eye.

"Do you remember me, Doctor Gaster?" Sans asked in a serious voice. "If there is anything left of you, please do not interfere."

There was a long moment of silence, and I held on to the wild hope that they might actually leave. Then the skeleton, Doctor Gaster, blipped out of existence, and reappeared at my side. Its eyes were cavernous and terrifyingly empty, just like the void itself. Sans wheeled around, bones appearing to ward off the other skeleton. Gaster moved back, a bone slicing the air where he once stood.

More strange noises.

"No," said Sans, and his eye burned. "You do not understand. This one is not like the other humans. Frisk is different."

Gaster waved his hands, strange ones with large holes where the palms should be. Lights appeared over his shoulder. Red. Light blue. Orange. Yellow. Purple. Green. Dark blue. The colors of the souls. The powers of the souls. The monster spoke again, and even if I couldn't understand the words, something in its tone was perfectly clear. Stand aside.

Sans looked nervous. His eye flashed blue and yellow. Patience and Justice.

"No."

And then the fight began.

I didn't dare move from the table with my soul still exposed and my health line caught in blue magic. I wasn't sure what would happen if the thread snapped, but I could guess. If I died in the void, would I be able to reset? We were outside of reality, and Sans seemed worried. He wouldn't be worried if it was something we could fix easily. And, even if I could reset, would we be able to sneak in here a second time?

Maybe. Maybe not.

So I watched as Sans brought up Gaster Blaster after Gaster Blaster, bone after bone. Huh, Gaster Blaster. I'd have to ask Sans about that later.

Gaster dodged everything and brought up his own attacks, each unique and familiar from my many battles with Flowey. But those had been my battles. Sans had not fought them. He'd been captured and held powerless. He didn't have the knowledge or experience. Still, he was able to move easily, sliding through the bullets and blipping in and out of existence rapidly. I was impressed enough that I began to wonder why the lazy bones had never bothered to help me in those battles.

Gaster was equally agile and quick to attack and defend. For every bone created by Sans, Gaster would create a soul-based attack. Attack, attack, dodge, dodge. They were evenly matched. I couldn't tell who had the upper hand until one well aimed Gaster Blaster from Sans managed to singe Gaster's arm. I cheered quietly until Sans was very nearly incinerated by a triple-pronged attack.

Right. Sans had only a single hitpoint. One strike and he would die.

I was pulled from my thoughts by the approach of the gray humanoid. It walked forward slowly and evenly, in no hurry and taking no heed to the flying attacks that very nearly grazed it on several occasions. Its large, unblinking eyes were fixed on me, and I wanted to call out to Sans. But I didn't dare. He needed to focus on his own fight right now without worrying about me. I would have to find a way to win this fight on my own.

Well, I had plenty of practice solving problems peacefully. I couldn't guess at what it would take to stop this monster, but I had plenty of things to try. Well…I guess I couldn't pet my way out of this. I couldn't spare until they thought I was harmless either, because it wasn't an actual fight. I couldn't help it in some way because it didn't need help. I couldn't trick it because it already knew I was human. I couldn't flee while still hooked up to the machine without risking my health. So that left…

"You have beautiful eyes," I said, starting with a basic flirt. "Besides being a cutie pie, what do you do around here?"

I winked.

The monster stopped, its blank expression shifting minutely until it looked confused. Darn, I'd been hoping for a laugh or a smile. Most monsters were inherently very kind and reacted positively to flirting and compliments. Well, this was still better than the decidedly unfriendly intent it had shown before. If it was unbalanced now, I might have an opening. When all else failed, kindness was my best bet.

"We're really not here to hurt anyone," I said reasonably. "Sans is only trying to save my life. When we're done here, we'll be gone. There is no need for a fight."

 _HUMAN. Human. Enemy. Loops. Time. TIME LOOPS. Trapped. Hurt Sans. Prisoners. EVERYONE is trapped BECAUSE OF YOU._

"That's…that's not true," I said nervously as the gray monster began to approach again. I might have imagined it, but it seemed slightly less hostile. Maybe this could work, Think. More reasons to let us go. "I want to save everyone. I'm going to break the barrier again. If I can stop the sickness, I won't ever have to reset again! Everyone can be free. Don't you want that too?"

 _CANNOT STOP. Die. HUMANS all DIE. Mortal. Death. Sickness. NO HOPE._

The gray monster was at my side now, reaching up slowly toward my soul.

 _Maybe good human. Maybe BAD. Mortal. Always mortal. NO MORE RESETS. I'm sorry._

"Please stop," I said. "I want to save everyone."

 _You will die here. I am sorry, human._

"No!"

A wall of blue bones appeared between me and the gray monster. It teleported back, eyes turning blankly to Sans, who was trembling with exertion. Gaster stood unfazed. The deformed skeleton spoke again, softer now. There were attacks hanging in the air behind him, ready. A silent threat.

"You're wrong," said Sans. Then he blinked out of existence and appeared at my side. A flick of his finger, and the missing red piece of my health line snapped back into place. Without warning, he took me in his arms and pulled me through a shortcut.

Having my soul forcefully ripped from the grip of the machine was like having molten lead poured into my chest. I screamed. Sans tightened his grip on me, lifting me up and darting down the hall. The pain eased after a few minutes, and I whimpered pathetically, clinging to his jacket. What would happen now? The sickness had been isolated, but Sans had put it back. Obviously he couldn't take me while my health line was in pieces, but what would happen now? Could we still fix this?

I couldn't answer any of my questions, and I didn't want to voice them to Sans.

He must have been truly exhausted to not be using his shortcuts. His breaths were coming in heavy gasps, and the light in his eye was fading fast. What would happen if he collapsed? Would we be able to escape?

I forced the questions away and focused on my own breathing. If I could get the pain under control, I could run under my own strength. That, at least, would ease some of the burden on Sans. He raced down the corridors without pausing, and I hoped he wasn't lost. Nothing looked familiar, and I couldn't tell if we were headed for the exit or deeper into the structure.

Eventually, Sans slowed to a stumbling halt and lowered me to the ground. He was breathing hard, his shoulders shaking from effort.

"heh, I guess all that practice being lazy has really 'run me to the ground'," said Sans, though the lazy lilt of his voice was oddly forced. "let me just rest here a minute, alright? I'm bone-tired."

"Yeah," I said. Sans slumped against the wall and closed his eyes. "Just…just rest."

I watched the corridor carefully while Sans's breathing became more even. I curled up against his side, both to reassure him and myself. He slipped into a doze, which was equally terrifying and unsurprising. Sans was never exactly energetic, and I'd never seen him get into such a drawn out fight before.

I wished that I'd thought to grab the toy knife in the ruins. All I had right now was my stick. It wasn't like I actually needed a weapon until I reached the castle. Not normally, anyway. But I'd make it work. If I couldn't talk my way out of it, pet my way out of it, spare my way out of it, or flee my way out of it…then I didn't have much choice.

I would have to fight.

But if Sans could not win that battle with his admittedly impressive arsenal, what chance did I have? No, fighting wouldn't work without my resets to give me an advantage. There was really only one bargaining chip I still had left.

When Gaster appeared, as I knew he would, I stood up and put myself between him and Sans.

"I don't know if you can understand me," I said, and I was pleased with how calm my voice sounded even as my hand trembled. The seven lights appeared behind Gaster's back, but they did not move to attack me. Yet. "But I truly mean you no harm. I came here because…I am sick. Sans just wanted to make me better again so that we could save all of monster kind."

Gaster warbled. Dismissive. The lights moved forward, ready to strike.

"I want to make an offer," I said quickly. The lights paused, and I took a deep breath. Behind me, Sans slept. "I know Sans used to work for you. He was your friend, right? He's my friend too, and I want to protect him. You're attacking us because of me. If I surrender, if I give my life to you, will you let him go?"

Gaster spoke, but again, his words were nonsense to me.

"Uh, well, let's try this," I said, fumbling as I tried to make a plan. "If you refuse to spare Sans I will fight. If…if that is what you want, keep the souls up. I'll fight you, and whatever happens, happens. If you accept my life and agree to spare him, let go of the souls, and I'll come to you."

The skeleton's eyes were empty and unreadable. He made a few more sounds, and I wondered if he'd even understood a word I'd said. No, Sans had spoken in English. He understood me. But he wasn't lowering the souls. Did he want to fight? Would I have to-?

The lights vanished, and I let out a sigh of relief that rippled through my whole body. He didn't want to hurt Sans. I could still save my friend. Some day in the future, another child would fall. Sans would help guide them through the Underground, and everyone would be free. The world didn't need me. If I could just save this one life, I could accept my fate.

My stick clattered as I let it fall to the floor. I took a step forward, smiling sadly.

I didn't get a chance to take a second step as a bony hand shot out from behind me and wrapped around my wrist. Sans pulled me through another short cut, and the hallway vanished entirely, replaced by the blackness of the void.

Sans was still holding me, his grip painfully tight.

"why?" he asked. "why would you do that? I've already told you to stop throwing your life away! I don't want you to die for me!"

I winced, feeling like my bones were grinding together.

"Do you really think I could have won that fight?" I asked.

"maybe…if we fought together," said Sans, but I could hear the doubt and resignation in his words. "we can't go back. they'll be waiting."

Silence fell between us as we began to move, presumably heading back the way we'd come.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

Sans sighed and pinched the bridge of bone above his nasal cavity.

"I might be able to reconstruct the device inside of reality," said Sans, thankfully loosening his grip. "it's the only one of its kind, but I made notes on the plans." He flicked his wrist and a page of hastily written notes appeared. "it's not much to go on, but it's something. given enough time, I could make it work."

Despite his words, his tone did not sound optimistic.

"If I break the barrier, I'll get sick," I said.

Sans's eyes went black.

"then don't break the barrier," he said. He closed his eyes and reopened them. When he smiled, it was more genuine, but still touched by sadness. "Pap loves you already, so he won't object to a new roommate."

I already knew he wouldn't, but it wasn't Papyrus I was worried about.

I saw a rectangular outline of white, the door we'd come through. Sans stepped through first, pulling me along, and steadying me as gravity reasserted itself. My stomach flip-flopped, but Sans acted as my anchor to keep me still until I was ready to stand on my own.

"If it's alright, can I still go through the Underground and make friends with everyone?" I asked. "I don't want to have to hide from Undyne for very long. Alphys will help her find me eventually. I can do everything until the end. And I want to see Mom again too."

"sure, kid," said Sans. He tossed the notes onto the table and began gathering tools. "I'll take you back to the garage, and you can be on your way. Just try not to die, alright? I'll meet you in the usual spots. we'll go to Grillby's too."

"Sounds good," I said, trying to sound cheerful. Sans was still looking dejected. Our adventure to the void hadn't worked out exactly as we'd hoped, but at least things hadn't gotten worse. And with Sans's notes, we had a new direction. Maybe the ending wouldn't be perfect, but everyone would be alive. The souls would still be there, and everyone could still have a dream to look forward to. And if Sans was able to make the machine to remove my sickness, I could always break the barrier later. Right, there was no need to give up. The path would be long and difficult, but not impossible. Things could still work out in the end. Things could still be different this time.

We could still have our happy ending one day.

The very next morning, I fell sick…

…

To be continued...


	5. Gone

Remedy

Chapter 5: Gone

…

"Do you think the sickness spread when I was pulled out of the machine?" I asked. We'd skipped straight to Sans's lab right after I arrived in Snowdin. I could feel the tingle of a cough in the back of my throat, but I suppressed the urge to clear it. I didn't want to worry Sans when neither of us could stop the inevitable end of this loop.

"maybe," he said, sketching an outline onto a page. There were several crumpled papers on the floor around him already. Failed equations. Ideas that went nowhere. Gibberish. I gathered them up and set them in the waste basket beside his desk. It was pretty much the only useful thing I could do right now. Sometimes I wished I'd paid more attention in science and math class. But this was pretty high-level stuff, so it might not have helped anyway.

"What about asking Alphys for advice?" I asked, though with a slight bit of trepidation. I knew how most of her experiments had gone, and since we weren't even friends yet, I wasn't sure I trusted her enough to go on the examination table.

"no," said Sans, who must have had a similar train of thought.

"Isn't there anyone…?" I trailed off, because I'd never seen any other scientists running around. Alphys worked alone, and I thought I might know why.

Sans shook his head.

"anyone who might be able to help is…gone," he said. I knew what he really meant. They were in the void with Doctor Gaster. So obviously they wouldn't be interested in making me better again.

I sighed and leaned against the wall. We were on a tight schedule now, and I didn't want to think about how many loops I had left. Our only hope, my only hope, was that Sans would be able to replicate the lab machine from memory.

I didn't suggest returning to the void, either. Sans had only a single hitpoint, and he'd barely managed to survive the first battle. We'd never be able to sneak past the void monsters again. If only we'd been a little faster. If only I'd managed to distract the little gray monster for a few more minutes. If only…If only…

It was pointless to worry about now. Sans was a scientist, and I had faith that he could build the machine. He just needed time.

"That's okay," I said. "We can do it if we work together."

Sans nodded, not looking at me.

The next morning, I fell sick…

I raced through the ruins, coughing a bit as I asked Toriel to leave. She was gentler than usual because of my obvious weakness. When she finally agreed to let me go, her hug lasted longer than normal. She told me to keep warm.

I stepped through the door from the ruins and Sans gave me a worried look. He pulled me through a shortcut before I could even cough my way through a greeting. At this point it didn't really matter if Alphys grew suspicious. I expected Sans to take me to his lab, but instead he brought me to his room. I laid out on the mattress and closed my eyes.

I would try to last as long as possible for him. He needed me to live.

I died.

I was shaking uncontrollably when I fought Toriel the next time. She almost tried to carry me back to the house, but I refused. I met Sans on the other side and tried to smile, but I collapsed before I could even take a single step into the snow.

Sans brought me to his lab this time and set me on a table. There was an instrument above it, but I couldn't see very well anymore. I brought my soul out when he told me to, and he fired up the machine. The beam of light was weak and stuttering. The lines of my soul were slowly pulled out.

Sans pressed a few buttons, and the lines moved. I tried to see which one was my health line, but after writhing for a few moments, they collapsed back into my soul. Sans's face darkened with anger, and he returned to the table where his notes were spread out. He worked, every movement rushed and frustrated.

I was too weak to stand, so I just stayed there on the table and focused on my breathing.

He tried seven more times.

The last thing I saw was him sitting perfectly still, staring helplessly at the equations.

I died.

Toriel did not leave me to run errands this time, instead helping me hobble slowly through the puzzles. She tucked me in and said that she would take care of me. I went to sleep in Toriel's house, and by the time I woke, I was too weak to leave. I went back to sleep.

I died.

Toriel carried me, whispering soft encouragement as I stared up at her worried face. There were tears in her eyes, and I could almost see the thoughts running through her head.

 _Not again. Not another child. Please, don't let me lose this one too._

I tried to tell her I was sorry.

I died.

Flowey mocked my weakness with sarcastic sympathy. I couldn't see the bullets when he pulled my soul out for an attack. I couldn't dodge at all.

I died

I lay in the bed of flowers, too weak to stand. So I just stared up at the golden light until my vision darkened completely.

I died.

I died.

I died.

I woke to the feel of warm magic around my soul. I blinked slowly and saw Sans kneeling at my side. He smiled, but it looked fragile, like it was one moment away from shattering completely. I tried to say something, but it came out as a faint croak. Sans looked away.

"it…uh…it didn't work," he said, the words trembling a bit. Sans swallowed. "I couldn't recreate the machine. it's just too complicated. I went back to the old lab in the void, but I wasn't able to get close to it…"

I made a sound of objection. I hadn't wanted him to go back there. It was too risky. I wished I could tell him that, but the words only sounded like gurgles in my throat. Even breathing hurt now. Sans smoothed my hair and focused his magic on my chest.

"this should make it easier to breathe when I'm done," he said. His eyes were narrowed in concentration. "I'm sorry, but it's only temporary. it will last maybe a few minutes."

While he worked, I stared at his face, at the lines of his skull and teeth and the faint glow of his eyes. There were still things that needed to be said. True things. I'd begun to think that I'd never get the chance to say them, that I would be trapped alone in the ruins forever. That I would live and die within the space of hours, minutes, or moments until the Determination was finally bled from my soul.

"there, that should be better," he said.

"Sans," I said, and I was almost surprised to hear my voice, clear and calm and without a single trace of sickness. "There's something I want to say, so you have to promise to listen until I'm done, okay?" I could see the signs of worry on his face. He probably knew how this would go. I waited for his nod of agreement before continuing. "You're my best friend in the whole world. I loved all those times we went star-gazing together. I loved having sleepovers with you and Papyrus. I loved how you were always there to help me when I was afraid. You made my life special in every way. Because of you, I had a good life, a life filled with fun and games and laughter. I want you to remember that. It was a good life."

Sans's eyes were dark, and I reached up to touch his cheek.

"Sans…I am ready to die."

I wasn't sure what I expected. Acknowledgment? Objection? Anger? But there was only silence. Then he swallowed hard and spoke.

"knock, knock," he said.

I smiled. It was just like him.

"Who's there?" I said, clearing my throat a bit as it began to itch.

"Juno."

"Juno who?"

"Juno how much you mean to me, kid?" He wasn't smiling anymore. "Juno what I would give to save you?"

I closed my eyes as my vision blurred. I coughed once and pulled my soul from my chest. It hung between us, bright and red and filled with Determination. This felt just like the first conversation so many resets ago, but I wanted a different ending this time.

"I need you," I said. "I hurt, Sans. I hurt a lot. I can't…I can't breathe. My bones ache. My lungs burn. I can't stand or walk or speak." I stopped to cough, trying to clear my throat, but the fluid began filling me up again almost at once. I was nearing the end, apparently. There wasn't much time left. "I need you to help me not hurt anymore. Please, Sans. I need you to save everyone. I need you to save me…Please…save me…"

And that was it, my last words. Every breath now felt like a knife in my chest, and my coughs shuddered through my whole body. Sans pulled me into his lap, holding me close until I was able to settle down somewhat. I sat there, shivering a bit and tucking my chin against his chest.

I wondered if he would fight against the inevitable, and how I could convince him when I could no longer speak.

But in the end, I didn't need to.

"…okay…"

Sans held a hand over my soul and, with infinite care, he began to drain my Determination. I expected it to hurt, but it just felt like a bone-deep weariness was descending on me from within. I slumped further into Sans's arms as the red dulled and dulled into something gray. My eyes slid closed and my head lolled a bit.

"…what is that?" Sans asked, sounding surprised. I cracked one eye open to see him staring at the empty air beside us. His gaze was curious. He reached out to touch nothing and seemed startled. "…huh, so that's a save point?"

I smiled. I hadn't been sure that he would be able to use saves and loads, but I was happy to see that he could. Sans would be the new hero of the Underground, and he could save everyone. My soul was the seventh, the last one needed to break the barrier. Everyone would be free and happy and safe.

I closed my eyes again and tried to even out my breathing. I could feel every rise and fall of my chest, but it hurt less each time. I was starting to fade away, like falling asleep. Yeah, that was a nice way to think of it. I was just falling asleep after a very, very long day.

"kid?" Sans asked. I wanted to look at him, but my eyelids were too heavy. "Frisk, stay with me…"

I wanted to say I was sorry.

"...hey..."

I was just so tired.

"…kid, please…"

I released my last breath.

"…stay with me…"

And I let go.

…

To be continued...


	6. Reminiscence

Remedy

Chapter 6: Reminiscence

…

Monsters and humans each had their own ideas about the afterlife. For humans, it was centered around our souls, the parts of ourselves that persisted after death. There were many interpretations of where human souls went. They ranged from the white cities in the clouds to the blue cities of the sea to the brown cities of the earth to the red cities of the fire. For monsters, there was no destination, as their souls did not persist. Instead, their dust was spread across their favorite things so that their lingering magic could imbue them forever. There was nothing left in the end, only that which could be given away in one final act.

For me, there was simply the darkness of the void.

When my heart gave its last beat before finally stilling, my soul severed all bonds with my body, and I was truly gone. It was an experience I'd endured hundreds, no thousands, of times before. But for this death, there was no reset to bring me back.

Sans held me for a long time, my soul in one hand and my body laid across his lap. Only when he heard Toriel arriving did he move, pulling my body and soul through a shortcut to his lab. I was grateful for this. I didn't want Toriel to see my dead body. She didn't know me in this timeline, but it would hurt her to see me lying dead in the arms of another monster. I didn't want her to think she'd failed again.

Sans laid me out on the table and carefully placed my soul in a containment vessel. He stood staring at me for a while, occasionally shifting his gaze to the void machine. I wanted to tell him no, he shouldn't go back there again. It was too dangerous, and I wasn't worth it. But I had no mouth to speak with anymore. Eventually, his shoulders slumped and he looked away. He took my soul and carried me to the king.

He chose to go the long way, walking through the entire Underground. He ate a plate of spaghetti with Papyrus. He touched the echo flowers in waterfall. He had a quick chat with Undyne. He stopped to eat a hotdog in hotland. He spoke with Alphys and Mettaton. He played through the puzzles in the core. And he walked slowly through in the Judgement Hall.

He was showing me the Underground, letting me see it all one last time, and giving me a chance to say goodbye.

When he met with Asgore, he placed my soul on the ground, surrounded by the golden flowers. He said that he'd found a fallen child who perished from their injuries. I felt a wave of appreciation. This was the best possible outcome. No one would know my name or my face. No one would care for me or feel sad that I was gone. No one would suffer because of my death.

No one but…

Sans was black-eyed and serious when he demanded that the king of monsters swear to make peace with the humans. Asgore did not object. He had no desire to kill, and this was a simple excuse to banish the thought of war. Asgore took my soul, and the last I saw of Sans, he was watching me go. I had never seen him look so lost.

And then it was done. The barrier was broken, and the six other souls and I were free to go. The other six vanished into the ether, but I waited on the cliff to watch the sunset one last time. Asgore stood there alone, but he did not seem happy to see the outside world. He just looked old and tired and lonely.

I could not stay in the world forever, though. I began to fade a short while later, and soon I found myself in the void. It was pure emptiness that consumed everything it touched. I felt nothing in the darkness. No curiosity, no fear no loneliness. I felt nothing at all.

It would have been a welcome experience if I'd been able to feel relief. For the first time in so many resets, I felt no pain.

But even from the void, sometimes I was called back. It happened whenever someone thought of me. Their memories, their words, and their emotions would summon me, and I would remain for a short while before returning to the comfort of the void. Although there were humans who knew from my life before the Underground, none of them ever thought about me or wondered about where I'd gone. There was really only one person who could bring me back, and he did it fairly often.

Sans took my body and laid me to rest on the hillside where we always went for star-gazing and cloud-watching. It was prime real estate for its beauty and the view. He buried me with one of Papyrus's small puzzles, a piece of butterscotch cinnamon pie, a hotdog, and a golden flower.

He also carved a gravestone that read:

Frisk

The Angel of the Underground

He dropped by my grave often and would chat with the empty air. He spoke as if I was truly there, and I wondered if he knew I could hear him. Sometimes it seemed like he was expecting an answer, other times not. He told me how things were going.

Sans told me how the monsters all emerged from the Underground. Except for Toriel. She stayed in the ruins, unable to accept freedom at the cost of her children's souls. Sans said that she did not joke with him anymore, now that she knew he'd taken the soul of the last child. She couldn't be friends with someone who had broken his promise. She never had the chance to heal, I realized. When she had marched straight to the castle and saved me from Asgore, it had resolved some of her remaining guilt over the deaths of the other children. But there was no absolution for her in this timeline, and I was filled with regret for my inability to save her too.

Sans told me how the monsters were restless against the humans. He told me how they did not trust humanity as easily. They thought that all humans were cruel, merciless beings that would turn on them at a moment's notice. When I'd made my way through the Underground, showing kindness and mercy at every turn, I'd changed many hearts. Without me there to save them, they were reluctant to find peace. But they loved and trusted their king, so they would not openly attack the humans. They respected Asgore's command for peace and tolerance.

Sans told me how the humans were frightened. With the monsters acting so hostile in their presence, negotiations broke down pretty quickly. Asgore would not bring war, but he could be a tyrant when it came to defending the lives of his people. He had murdered six children for their souls, and he would have murdered me for the sake of freedom. He could be cruel if he believed that what he was doing was right. I was not there to show him another way, a way of kindness and mercy. The humans knew this. And they were afraid.

Sans told me how he'd never seen Papyrus work so hard creating puzzles and traps to keep the humans out. He tried to make it into a game, but Papyrus was still afraid. It was one thing to make puzzles for small, hypothetical humans. It was another to know how failure could mean death for the people he cared about. Undyne had reluctantly let him into the Royal Guard. They were accepting anyone who had a will to fight.

War was inevitable.

Sans was gone for a long time. I did not notice because I did not have the will to care when I was in the void. But when he did return, he seemed tired. He apologized for not visiting me for so long.

Sans told me how Asgore had been slain in battle. He told me how Papyrus had fallen. He told me how Undyne had taken the throne after Toriel attempted to return. Toriel had wanted peace, but with so many deaths, she was quickly overthrown and exiled back to the ruins. Undyne had also dragged Sans into the castle and condemned him for the deaths of the king and Papyrus. She said that none of this would have happened if they'd started the war from the beginning. They would have had the advantage of surprise. They could have saved their people. Now they would have to destroy all of humanity from a position of weakness rather than strength.

Sans was exiled too.

He said that he thought about trying to move in with Toriel in the ruins, but while she had forgiven him for breaking his promise, he was still not welcomed there. Toriel wanted to live in her exile alone, so he dropped off a bunch of books for her to read and then he went to lay down beside my grave.

"well, kid, I guess this is the end," said Sans at last, watching the blue velvet sky for the first sign of a star. The sun was slipping below the horizon, and the stars were just peeking out from behind the clouds. "this will be the last time I can come visit you…if you're even there. I wanted to say sorry, but I guess you already know that. I couldn't save anyone, not even the people I cared about most. I'm not the hero of the Underground, and all the Determination in the world isn't going to change that. I…I miss you, kid. you were always the person who made sure everything turned out right. the first time you faced Asgore, I had no idea how you would make it work. but I knew you could do it. and you did."

He stopped and reached up, pulling the Determination from his chest.

"what would you tell me to do?" he asked. "to go on? to try again? I'm tired, Frisk. I'm tired and I just want this to stop. but you made me promise to save everyone. you made me promise to save you. if I go back to try again, you'll be there to die in my arms. you'll suffer, and every time I reset to try again, you'll suffer more. and I don't want you to suffer just so I can get to another dead end. so, what do I do? please, I don't know how to get to the future you want to see. if you're there, kid, please…talk to me…"

He held my Determination close and waited. I drew my soul to the Determination, and I tried to speak.

"Stay Determined," I said, and from Sans's startled expression, I knew that he heard me. "You carry my hopes and dreams. Save everyone. I believe in you."

Sans closed his eyes and smiled.

"…heh, I should have guessed," he said. He was silent for a long time. "you know, I told you about the compounding across loops, right? for you, it was sickness, but for me it was…feelings. at first, when you came through the Underground, I just saw you as another human. then, when I saw how hard you were trying to make everything right, I started to root for you, and I started to like you. every loop made these feelings grow stronger until I…until I did not want to live in a world without you in it."

He stopped again and looked toward my grave.

"even now, I don't want to see you die in my arms…but," he took a deep breath. "but I still want to see you again."

"You will," I told him. "Stay Determined. I will always be with you."

"heh," Sans laughed. "guess I'll see you soon then, kid. which is good, because I was getting pretty bonely without you."

He reached out to touch the empty air, most likely a save point I could not see.

But before the world could reset, I was pulled roughly back into the void. The darkness enveloped my soul, drawing me back through nothing. I wasn't sure what was happening. All I knew was I was being taken somewhere. A familiar structure rose out of the dark. The lab. My soul flew through the entrance and down the halls until it reached the door. I finally stopped in a terrifyingly familiar room. There was a single person there, and for the first time in the void, I felt afraid.

Doctor Gaster.

The deformed skeleton turned and fixed his empty eyes on me. Behind him, I could see the monitor displaying many things: graphs, reports, snippets of video. I could see Sans lying on the grass beside my grave. Had Gaster been watching us? For how long? How much could he hear? Gaster pulled my soul to him with a gesture and held me gently in his hand. I felt so tiny and vulnerable while looking up at him. If he wanted to hurt me, there was nothing I could do to stop him. It was impossible to read his expression, but he did not seem happy. I tried to shrink in on myself, but I was only a soul, and a muted one at that. He was a monster who could stand against Sans, one of the most powerful monsters in the Underground.

He opened his mouth, and words spilled out, backed by the strange sounds I'd heard him speak before. Only now, I understood what he had to say.

"Child," he said. "Welcome to my lab once again. There is much I wish to discuss with you."

I wasn't sure I liked where this was going.

"About your soul...and your death."

Oh yeah, I didn't like where this was going at all.

…

To be continued...


	7. Treatment

Remedy

Chapter 7: Treatment

…

Gaster carried my soul to another instrument and placed me carefully inside a small containment vessel. I thought briefly about attempting escape, but it would have been pointless. He had the ability to drag me all the way from reality and through the vastness of the void. So forcing me into the machine would be trivial if he wanted to.

And without my Determination, I had little enough will to fight.

"This will enable us to communicate," he said, adjusting several knobs and switches until a soft beam of light passed straight through my soul. It didn't hurt, much to my relief. It just tingled a bit. "This will record your words and display them for me to read. Now, speak."

Oh, well. I guess I could give it a try.

"Hello?" I asked hesitantly. "Why did you bring me here?"

"Good," said Gaster, ignoring my question. He made some minor adjustments and nodded thoughtfully at the display. Then he summoned a chair with a gesture and sat. "You have caused more harm than you will ever know. I find it incredible how such a small child could disrupt time and space as you have. But the damage is done. All we can do now is mend reality with what we have."

"I didn't mean to hurt anyone," I said. It was the truth. All I'd ever wanted was a happy ending for the people I cared about.

"I know," said Gaster. "But you should never have possessed the power to reshape time. The timelines were not meant to be saved and loaded and reset as they have. In performing a reset, you have severed this world from its future and condemned it to an eternity of ever-narrowing spirals. Sans was clever to think of removing your cause of death, but it would have only delayed the inevitable. Once the future was severed, you were doomed to death regardless of the method. And you were dragging the rest of the world down with you."

I felt ashamed under his clinical assessment, but I still had enough self-respect to object.

"I was not the only one manipulating time," I said. "Flowey and even you were doing the same thing, right? How can you judge me for something you've been working on as well?"

I wasn't sure, but I might have detected a hint of annoyance in his magic, a slight twist of discomfort or irritation…or maybe guilt?

"I am a scientist," he said. "I have spent my entire life studying the phenomena of time. I took precautions. I did not use this world and the lives of every monster in the Underground as if they were infinitely disposable. As for the flower, he was a soulless thing, incapable of understanding the harm he caused. I would expect no more from him. And perhaps I should have expected no more from a human."

That wasn't fair, but I wasn't about to split hairs on what he expected of me. I hadn't exactly treated the timeline with the respect and caution it deserved. Maybe that was the problem. I'd been too casual about death. I'd acted like it was an inconvenience when in reality, I was erasing whole lives to undo my mistakes. Still, in the end, there was little I could do to stop my deaths or the irreversible resetting of the timeline.

"I meant no harm," I said again. "And I have given everything to try and make it right. Can't you see that? I want to make their hopes and dreams come true. I want them to be happy. That is all I want, and I gave my life to make it happen. Well…I tried to make it happen."

Gaster leaned back and steepled his fingers thoughtfully.

"Yes," he said at length. "Your intent cannot be denied. And your…value to the world is also obvious. I too believed that your last death would be the end of it. I thought that freedom would be enough. I was wrong. With freedom came war and more death. It seems that only you possess the power to bring about true peace, an unlikely herald though you are. And that is why you are here. Tell me, Child, what would you do with one final reset?"

I could only sit in stunned silence while I tried to process his words.

"I would just die," I said honestly. "I'm sick. I barely lasted a few minutes the last time. Besides, Sans has my—"

Gaster held up a hand to quiet me.

"You do not understand, Child," he said. "What I offer is not the inexperienced hack-job you've done to the timeline. I offer a true reset: a clean slate with neither the traces of sickness nor any of the compounding from previous timelines. It is one final chance to make things right."

"I…I would bring us to the surface," I said. "I've always brought us to the surface when I could. Why do you need to ask? If that's what you want, then please, help me save everyone!"

I willed him to understand. If he had the power to bring me back, then he had no reason to leave me in the void. We wanted the same thing.

"Perhaps it is the only way," he said. "But as long as you possess Determination, you are a threat to the future of this world. I cannot ignore that, no matter how well-intentioned you've proven yourself to be."

Silence fell between us, an apparent stand-off. He was waiting, I realized. He wanted something from me.

"Without my Determination, I would not be able to reset the timeline or sever the future," I said quietly. Doctor Gaster gave me a hard look, the emptiness of his gaze sharpening to a knife's edge. "It's what you want, right? My Determination?"

Gaster nodded slowly.

"It is the only way to know for certain," he said. "When I return you to the timeline once more, I will take your Determination from Sans and keep it here. Know this, Child. You have one chance. One. If you die in this timeline, you die forever."

I nodded. He didn't need my approval to take my Determination. But he'd wanted me to surrender it willingly. That was alright. It caused as many problems as it solved.

"I was prepared for that the last time," I said. "And I've gotten very good at going through the Underground. I'm…pretty sure I won't die. And Sans will be there to help me. Between the two of us, it should be easy." I expected Gaster to agree, but his silence dragged on. "Shouldn't it?"

"There will be no compounding from previous timelines," said Gaster. "It will be a clean slate. An entirely clean slate."

Oh.

Oh…

"Sans won't remember me," I said. "Will I…?"

"I will ensure the preservation of your memories, yes," he said. "Only your memories."

"But why?" I asked. All the jokes, the sleep-overs, the afternoon naps, the star-gazing, the cloud watching, the help with my homework, the reassurance, the…the…everything. All gone. Forever.

"Because caring for you has caused him great pain," said Gaster. "And I wish to spare him from that. He is a monster, immortal until the birth of his children. You are a human, mortal and bound to the steady decay of time. I do not want him to watch someone he cares for die from old age while he remains ever-young."

"So, you don't just want my Determination, you want Sans's memories, too?" I asked, angry. How dare he try to take that from us? What right did he have to make that choice? None. None at all.

"I cannot stop you from entering his heart once again," said Gaster. "That is beyond my power to control. But if you truly want what is best for him, you will keep your distance. Or do you so desperately want to see his eyes as he sits beside your death bed. Do you want to watch his suffering as you depart one last time? You know he will not move on. You've seen it from your own grave. He will carry your memories and the pain those memories cause for the rest of his natural life. Do you want that for him, Child?"

I tried to draw back, to shrink away from the awful truth of it. Sans and I were very different. I'd known that from the beginning. I'd been willing to die so that he could have a future without me, but I'd never stopped to consider what that life would be like. He'd given up the surface repeatedly just for the chance to let me live a little longer. Because it would hurt too much for him to let me to die. And in the end, he'd chosen to live with the pain forever just so that my pain would stop. I'd asked him to save me. And he did. And he had to live with that choice every single day for the rest of his immortal life.

"I want him to be happy," I said. "I want him to be happy, even if he doesn't remember me. I want him to be happy even if he doesn't care for me at all."

"Then you know what must be done," said Gaster, standing. "The only question now is, will you do it?"

It was only fair, really. I had so thoughtlessly erased the lives, friendships, and love of everyone else for the sake of my resets. Now Doctor Gaster would do the same for me. But I still loved them all. And I wanted them to be happy. I looked to the monitor where I could see Sans. He lay there frozen in time, reaching out to reset the world. He'd said he was tired, that he wanted this to stop. I didn't want him to hurt anymore, not because of the resets, and not because of me.

"Yes," I said.

He took my soul and carried me to the instrument Sans had used before. He turned on the machine, and the lines burst from my soul. This time, the extraction for the sickness was far more complicated. The red potion was no longer contained to a small area. It had spread all throughout my health line like a cancer. Doctor Gaster cautiously isolated each section and severed the lengths of red. One by one, they were gathered into the field of blue magic until only the good pieces of my health line remained.

There was very little of the line left.

Doctor Gaster must have agreed. He consulted with the machine and other instruments, bringing forth various bottles of…something. The liquids within the bottles flowed toward my health line as though they were unencumbered by gravity, and they sizzled along the surface.

"You will not survive long like this," said Gaster. "These potions will help, but I need the fill in the gaps, and I am afraid there is only one way to do that." I did not like the grim tone of his voice, and my soul wavered. I could not speak to him without the other machine, but he must have noticed my fear. "You are not the one who will need to sacrifice for this."

He made a noise then, a strange call or signal. We waited a few moments, and gray monsters began to appear. I recognized the humanoid with the round eyes, but there were others too. There was a grinning monster with a shadowed face. There was a giant, smiling head emerging from the ground. And there was a gray monster that looked disturbingly like a blank-eyed, gray Monster Kid.

I shuddered.

Gaster spoke to them softly so that I could not hear. When he was done, they turned to me as one and teleported to my side. If I had been free, I would have recoiled in fear. But they simply loomed around my table.

The humanoid spoke first in its strange, echoing voice.

 _Human. Save them. FREE THEM. Surface. OUR FRIENDS. Our families. Be good._

Then the humanoid monster closed its eyes and dissolved into dust. I watched in shock as the dust rose up to join my health line, filling in one of the gaps.

The shadow-faced monster spoke next.

 _We die for the sake of all monsters. Do not let our sacrifice be in vain._

It dissolved and joined my health line too.

Wait. No. I didn't want this. I didn't want anyone to have to die for me. Stop. Stop. Stop!

The giant head monster spoke next.

 _Everyone I ever loved is gone. There is nothing left for me here. Take my life and make a future for our kind. The ones I loved would have wanted that. I want that too._

It dissolved.

No, please. Not again.

Gray Monster Kid spoke last.

 _Even if he doesn't remember me, I still love my brother. Let him see the stars…_

STOP!

It was gone, turned to dust and filling in the final gap in my health line. Doctor Gaster examined the readouts. He nodded in satisfaction and pressed several buttons on the machine. The lines collapsed back into my soul, bringing the monster dust and magic along with it. I saw things then, things I did not understand. Words, monsters, lives. Memories. Memories from the four monsters who had imbued my soul with their magic. But there was too much to process. These weren't my memories, and no sooner had I seen them than they began to fade.

"That will suffice, Child," he said, taking my soul into his hand. "Do not be afraid. Their magic will sustain your life for a normal human lifespan. No more, no less. Accept their sacrifice, and bring the Underground into a new age of joy and peace."

He lifted me up, and I felt a shift in the void.

"Be careful, Child," he said as the void began to fade. "And do not fail. This is our last chance…Save us all…"

I was once again enveloped by darkness.

And then I awoke with golden sunlight streaming down from above.

…

To be continued...


	8. Recovery

Remedy

Chapter 8: Recovery

…

No more second chances. This run needed to be perfect.

I made my way through the ruins and proved my worth in battle against Toriel. I hugged her goodbye and told her I loved her. Watching her go always hurt. It would have been easy to try and reassure her of my survival, but I couldn't risk it. I almost wished I'd tried it in another timeline to see if it would have helped. But I couldn't think like that. There was only this timeline now, and I had all of monster kind to save.

I opened the door that led out of the ruins and I felt Sans stalking me. I made my way slowly to the gate and waited as his footsteps crunched in the snow. My heart beat fast, just as it had the first time. I was afraid this time too, but for a far different reason. When I turned around and shook his hand, I met his eyes…

And he didn't recognize me.

I was an expert at reading his expressions by now, from the minute shifts in his eyes to the quirk of his mouth. There were always the subtle hints that we'd done this before, that he knew what was going on. But there was no spark of recognition in his eyes this time, no hint of familiarity, or even déjà vu. My eyes stung, and I looked down before I could say something I would regret.

Sans faltered on his introduction, and he shifted uncomfortably. Then he was back to his usual lines, and I followed along dutifully.

I'd expected this.

It still hurt.

The rest of the Underground went by in a bit of a blur. I went on a date with Papyrus while Sans hid in his room. Later, Sans offered to take me to Grillbys. I declined. He offered to take me to Mettaton's resort. I declined again. I felt the distance growing between us. I also noticed something akin to suspicion in his words. I half-hoped that he would ask so that I had a reason to confess.

But he never did.

Sometimes I still looked for the save points. I couldn't see them even if they were still there. A few times I reached for them out of habit only to look around in confusion when my fingers met nothing. It was another reminder of the cost of failure.

No more second chances.

It almost felt like my first time through the Underground, where I was frightened and dreaded every new confrontation. But I made it. With all of my practice, it was almost easy. I met Sans in the Judgement Hall, and I watched his eyes. He was surprised and pleased by my kindness and love. He was happy to let me face Asgore, even if he didn't know the outcome. He knew I would find a way.

I looked down.

Before Sans could vanish, I ran forward and hugged him. He seemed surprised, so I closed my eyes and pretended for a moment that he was my Sans, the Sans who gave up the surface to let me live, the Sans who went into the void and faced down Gaster to try and heal my sickness, the Sans who sat with me under the golden sunlight and freed me from my pain.

This Sans patted my back awkwardly, and the illusion was broken. I stepped away and didn't look at him as I went to meet my fate.

He said nothing as he watched me go.

And so I broke the barrier. I agreed to become the ambassador. I agreed to live with Toriel. Everyone went their separate ways, and I breathed a sigh. They were all alive. They were all happy. They were all free. I could help bring peace. And that would be the end.

So why didn't this feel like the happy ending I'd been hoping for?

…

Two months later, things were going well. I'd lived these months several times, so I knew all of the diplomats. I was able to charm them easily, giving them confident reassurances that peace between humans and monsters was not only possible, but desirable for everyone involved.

It was a late summer night, and I was lying on the hillside where Sans had laid me to rest. It wasn't healthy for me to cling to the past like this, but I just couldn't seem to let it go. A pulse of magic and displaced air made me look up. That was odd. Sans didn't usually come here. He'd been completely occupied in his lab for the last few weeks and we didn't really talk much anyway. But sometimes I would ask Papyrus about his brother, and the taller skeleton would offer up hours worth of information with the barest prompting. Those two always loved to gossip about each other.

Sans plopped down on the grass beside me and closed his eyes. He looked relaxed and content, but I could sense an undercurrent of tension in his slouching frame. It might have been my imagination, but this was the exact same pose he used when speaking to me at my grave. I didn't want to hope. It was silly to even suggest—

"so, you didn't get sick this time," said Sans, cracking one eye open to peer at me. "I guess that means we're in the clear for resets, right?"

I bolted upright and gaped at him.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything.

And then I gaped at him some more.

"H-How?" I stuttered at last. "Gaster said…and you…and I…how?"

Sans huffed a sigh.

"Gaster, huh?" he asked. "I should have guessed. is he the one who told you to stay away from me? I could say I was surprised, but then I'd be lying."

"Well…yeah," I said, still confused. "But Sans…how? Why didn't you talk to me before now? I was so sure that you didn't remember."

Sans chuckled and I could tell that he was amused at my reaction.

"I didn't," he said. "at least, not at first. but I have ways of loading memories across timelines that even he doesn't know about. after I saw your face at the gate, I guessed that something was wrong. then in the Judgement Hall, I knew for certain. it took a while, but I found all of my old memories…and a few things I wasn't expecting, things I'd forgotten and didn't even know to look for. but yeah, I remember everything now."

I stared down at him.

He remembered.

And then I threw my arms around him and started to cry. I told him everything Gaster had said in the lab. I told him about the healing and about the four monsters who had sacrificed their lives to make me whole again. I told him about listening to him at my grave and trying so hard to make this timeline a better place for everyone. I wasn't sure how much he could understand when I was blubbering incoherently at some points, but he listened patiently and didn't interrupt. He just put his arms around me waited while I talked.

"I didn't want you to be in pain because of me," I said at last. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Sans hummed, eyes closed again. We sat in silence as my breathing evened. I was just beginning to think he'd fallen into another nap when he spoke.

"when I was seven years old, my mom died," he said. I looked at him, surprised. Never, in all our loops together, had he ever spoken about his past or his family. "dad was very…detached about it. he said that time would heal our wounds and make us forget. we'd move on with our lives, and things would get better. I resented him a bit for saying that because…I didn't want to forget. I didn't want to forget the way she tucked me in at night. I didn't want to forget the stories she told me when we sat by the fire. I didn't want to forget the time she shared her last cookie with me, and how she broke it in half and gave me the piece with the most frosting." He fell silent for a moment. "I didn't want to forget then. and I don't want to forget now. there are some things worse than the pain of losing someone."

Like the emptiness of being alone. I knew that feeling. I shivered and Sans squeezed me gently until I calmed down.

"I'm sorry," I said, relief making me smile and look at him with wet eyes. "I missed you."

Sans chuckled.

"it's okay," he said. "but kid? Do. Not. Ever. Do. That. Again."

Even his scary voice couldn't make me stop grinning. I hugged him even more tightly. He wheezed a laugh, and only that was enough for me to loosen up a bit. I still didn't let him go, though. I was half-afraid that he would vanish the moment I pulled away. No point in risking it.

Not when everything was so perfect.

After all, this was the happy ending I always wanted….

I felt something tug at my soul, and for a moment I thought that Sans was using his blue magic. Then I was pulled back, violently ripped out of Sans's arms and plunged into the blackness of the void. The last thing I saw was Sans's startled face and his hand reaching up.

I was dragged through the darkness. Confusion bled to anger when I saw the lab rising up out of the void. Soon I was in the room with the instruments, facing the back of Doctor Gaster. He was staring up at the screen, watching the empty hillside where Sans and I had been lying moments ago. When I'd met him twice before, I'd been terrified. This time I was furious.

I hit the ground hard, but was on my feet in an instant.

"What are you doing?" I shouted. "Can't you just leave us alone? We're happy! Why are you doing this to us?"

Some distant part of me, the part that wasn't seeing red from anger, was urging me to stall. Sans was not on the hillside anymore. He was likely on his way. I didn't know if he could stand up to Gaster, but together we could try.

"I do what I must," said Gaster, and the flatness of his voice was enough to make me tremble, but not enough to make me stand down. "You foolish child. What you have done cannot be undone."

"Can't you accept the choice he's made?" I asked. "Even if you want what is best for him, he has chosen to keep his memories. He doesn't want to forget, and I'm never going to help you do that to him again. Do you understand?"

"I understand, and I accept the choice he has made," said Gaster heavily, startling me out of my tirade. "I may not agree with it, but I can accept it. There is only one thing left for me to do."

He pulled out my soul, and I prepared for the worst. I had only 20 HP and no food items or even any armor to protect me. But I would not roll over and die for him, not after everything I'd been through. I would fight for my life, because it was the only one I had left.

"Take care of him, Child."

And then Gaster dissolved into dust. I stared in confusion as his dust and magic began to fuse with my soul. What was going on? Then the memories began. I saw Gaster, whole and undamaged, learning in school, teaching, researching, raising a pair of baby skeletons.

And then…

 _Gaster stood in the Core, rerouting power, coolant, and magic. He needed to stabilize the output or the whole lab would be absorbed into the time anomaly. Perhaps the whole Underground. His lab assistants were working with him, running their own instruments with practiced precision_

 _The Stability Reader crept slowly downward, teetering on the edge of red. They still had time. They still had time, damn it! Just a little more, and everyone could go home to their families tonight. Just a little more, and they would have families to go home to._

 _The readout slipped down, crossing to red, and a chill swept through his bones._

 _Prevention was now impossible. Their only hope was containment. He couldn't save the lab, but he could still save the Underground._

 _"Evacuate now!" Gaster shouted. "Everyone leave while you can!"_

 _"You can't hold the containment by yourself!" Sans shouted back. The others nodded if they deigned to answer at all. None of them moved from their posts. Gaster felt equal parts pride and horror. He didn't want to be responsible for the deaths of five people. Not them. Not Sans._

 _The Core was reaching critical mass. He had no time. He couldn't save them._

 _The Vault._

 _It would be shielded. Would it be enough? Perhaps. It was his only hope. His magic was straining to hold the power in check. He could spare only a tiny fraction. Just enough to save one person. One._

 _He grasped Sans's soul in blue magic and threw him through the door to the Vault, slamming the smaller skeleton against the far wall. Sans cried out._

 _"No!" he shouted. "Stop."_

 _Gaster slammed the door shut, one word echoing out before the Vault was sealed completely._

 _"DAD!"_

 _And then it was over. The Core reached critical mass. And then the lab was gone._

I was on the ground, gasping at the force of the memory. There were other snippets too, things from my first visit to the lab.

 _"This human will only hurt you, Sans," said Gaster._

 _"No," said Sans, and his eye burned. "You do not understand. This one is not like the other humans. Frisk is different."_

 _"That is what makes them so dangerous. Go home, Sans. Go back to your brother. I will ensure that the human can no longer interfere with the timeline."_

 _"No."_

And I saw myself as I appeared only moments ago, filled with life and righteous anger while feeling Gaster's deep sadness and regret.

"You were…just trying to protect your son," I said aloud.

I felt a familiar wave of magic wash over me and looked up to see Sans standing in the door with his eye blazing bright and furious. He saw me kneeling on the ground and teleported to my side.

"what happened?" he asked tightly.

I held up my soul, now glowing with a faint white sheen.

"He made me immortal," I said. That wasn't all he'd done. From his fading memories, I could see a few dozen advantages ranging from higher HP to magical resistance to immunity from diseases. "He didn't want you to watch me die again."

The anger in Sans was snuffed out like a candle, and he sagged wearily.

"he could have just asked like a normal person," said Sans irritably. "no, that would have been too easy…"

"You didn't tell me he was your father," I said, only half accusing. This seemed like highly relevant information, in my opinion. Sans huffed.

"when you fall into the void, people forget things about you," he said. "I only remembered when I went looking for my old memories. heh. you know, he was the type of person who always demanded that everyone call him 'Doctor' while in the lab. it was a case of 'I spent seven years getting this degree and twelve years doing research. I invented my own branch of science! So you're going to call me Doctor, damn it!" I spent six months calling him Doctor Dadster until he threatened to make me an _unpaid_ intern."

I chuckled at that, but it was a weak sound.

"I didn't realize, this whole time he was just trying to save you," I said. "I was so angry at him because I didn't understand."

"dad and I didn't see eye-socket to eye-socket on a lot of things," said Sans. "what it meant to save people was one of them. but he had a good heart, and he loved Pap and me. that doesn't mean he wasn't a pain in the pubis sometimes, but…I always knew how much he cared."

I felt warmth growing in my soul. Yeah, Doctor Gaster did care. He'd given his life to save his eldest son from an eternity of pain. There was nothing left for him in the void, and all he wanted was to bring happiness to his family. Sans and Papyrus.

He wanted me to be happy too.

"Sans?" I asked. Sans hummed to let me know he was listening. "Can we go home now?"

"sure, kid," he said, pulling me to my feet. "let's go. Tori's probably getting worried about you."

I felt Sans's magic wrap around my body and soul. It was warm and familiar and reassuring. We teleported out of the emptiness of the void. Away from the darkness and loneliness. Away from fear and death and the past. And we went back to reality, back to the night and stars, back to a world filled with peace and happiness and life.

Back to our perfect, happy ending.

…

The End

...

 **Note:** Woohoo! Done. Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed. Your reviews are the fuel for my writing, and this story would not have been written without you. I hope you have enjoyed Remedy! Thank you and good night.

 **Note 2:** The sequel for this story is now posted. It is called Small Font and includes a Sans/Frisk pairing as well as OC babies.


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